With many events on campus, the Distinguished Entrepreneurs Lunch Program (DEL) stands as a hidden gem, enriching students in the knowledge of innovation, startups, and entrepreneurship. Each week, DEL hosts a diverse array of speakers — each with a variety of different interests, backgrounds, and career goals. These informal gatherings, held every Wednesday from 12:15-1:00 p.m. provide a session for students to engage with speakers, diving into discussions about their career paths or entrepreneurial aspirations. This semester, we were extremely excited to welcome a great group of entrepreneurs.
Rich Thompson, Founder of Xtra Point Group, kicked off our semester. With over 25 years of experience in the consulting industry, Rich shared his journey of starting his own HR consulting company. Xtra Point Group aims to help other companies with leadership development, recruitment, and performance management. We also got a sneak peek into his new book “Relentless.” As a record setting All Big Ten placekicker for the Badgers, it was incredible to hear how he shifted to an accomplished global executive.
Mindy Perry, CMO of Daily Harvest, was our second speaker. As a pole vaulter for the UW Track Team, Mindy leveraged her marketing degree to help companies such as PepsiCo/Frito-Lay, Hilton, Neiman Marcus Group, and Kendra Scott to re-imagine cross functional marketing tactics. Truly an expert in marketing, Mindy currently holds the position of CMO of Daily Harvest – marketing meal prepping tips with a focus on easy sustainable practices.
For our investing crowd, we welcomed Caroline Casson, partner of VITALIZE Venture Capital. She shared her insights on her variety of different roles working for GE in financing, accounting and analysis, and commercial financing. These different types of roles led her to VITALIZE where she evaluates potential investments and portfolios and helps companies make key acting decisions. Her experience was truly unique and showed that if students believe that they can invest in themselves that they can do it all.
Next up was Megan Nuffer, Founder of Mayven, who was inspired by change through unsettling events during the pandemic. Her primary goal when starting Mayven was to create a place where consumers could find brands that match their values. Particularly, sharing her experience as a mother, Megan is extremely dedicated to safe sourcing and transparency. She strives for others to make empowered decisions through her informative platform.
To celebrate Women’s Entrepreneurship Week (October 15-22), we welcomed both Therese Merkel and Shelby Olstad. Therese Merkel, owner of TrickyFoods in Madison, started her own creative food styling business where she specializes in charcuterie boards. Shelby Olstad, Founder of Miggy’s Bakes, created her own business in 2019 by making sweet treats and opened her first store front bakery in 2023 in Middleton. Together, they record a podcast called “Screw It, Let’s Do This” which provides insight into their entrepreneurial journeys.
Steve Goldberg, Chairman of Benchmark Securities and Fixed Income Solutions, offered perspectives on future career paths for students by showcasing his entrepreneurial journey. He also shared fun stories of becoming one of the youngest general partners of Edward Jones. His journey to become chairman showed that “not one size fits all” in changing fields and interests.
Andee Harris, CEO of Challenger spoke out about her knowledge of growing and scaling businesses. As CEO of Challenger, she is committed and passionate about teaching others how to launch their startups for success by providing training, technology and consulting to companies. Her experience and expertise has led her to be voted as one of Chicago’s most successful technology entrepreneur.
For our students interested in what unique paths entrepreneurs can pursue, we welcomed Dan Guerra, Founder of Altus and SDMCentral. Watching his father’s challenging health care journey, Dan was inspired to create Altus which thrives in helping individuals through innovative medical technology, specifically for radiation. His mission proves to students that creating a better world is something that everyone wishes for and can be attained through non-conventional paths. We not only got to hear about his companies but learned more about his work as a chairperson of the Madison Community Development Authority that offers and serves individuals in need of homes.
Steve Farsht, Co-Founder of Corazon Capital, discussed venture seed capital and helping others grow their business through Seed A Funds. As an expert in recapitalization, and management buyouts, he shared his experience as a previous partner in Norwest Equity Partners and his business today. As a Wisconsin Business of School alum, Steve still holds his CPA, showing our students that their interests can be directly applicable to a multitude of different talents such as investing.
To finish up the semester, we had Chris Meyer, Founder and Director of Sector67. Chris centered his talk around encouraging students to create a startup and participate in entrepreneurship competitions like he did during his time at UW. Using his prize money, he founded Sector67 which is a hub for innovative minds to collaborate on next level ideas and technology through its nonprofit. His experience and knowledge was directly applicable to students pursuing the “innovation bug.”
We extend our gratitude to all the entrepreneurs that left an indelible mark on our program.We thank you for your time, expertise, and advice to our students. A very special thank you goes to Neider & Boucher, S.C. for sponsoring the Distinguished Entrepreneurs Lunch Program since its inception in Fall 2013. We thank you for staying committed to our program.
Categories: